The Good Boy Game, Q The Locals, The Q, 18-20 June

Patrick Vermillion's "The Good Boy Game" is a jet-black comedy in the tradition of the early Neil LaBute or Tracy Letts plays, dealing with a parenting crisis in suburban New Jersey when mum and dad realise that their teenage son has been planning a school shooting, and the pop-psychology attempts that two liberal parents adopt to fix their son. There's a number of twists and turns, some as old as Sophocles, on the way to a brutally dark finale. It asks the age-old question, "Can good really repair evil?" and doesn't find many comforting answers - in an age when liberal values are proving increasingly ineffective in the face of intolerance and anger, is gamifying morality a solution?

At the centre of the play is Giuliana Baggoley as Mary-Beth, the mother who uses her psychiatrist's theories and dives in deep - Baggoley plays her with a high level of tension behind every activity, even as she tries to find resolutions that get increasingly inappropriate, even in the final scene when everything appears to be resolved, you still feel the tension underlying her every move. As the son she tries to reform, Alastair McKenzie is a tight ball of rage, with most of his concessions coated with venom. Bruce Hardie as the father caught between his disgust for his son and his fear of the social implications of revealing his actions is compellingly weasel-like in his contortions. And Elaine Noon as the therapist who blithely advises without fully knowing the circumstances, has power and presence in her not-at-all-helpful suggestions, up until the point when she gets insight into what's been done with her ideas. 

Vermillion's play doesn't let anybody off the hook - it's more an exploration of liberal hypocracies than it is of the poisons of the manosphere, and it's presented in appropriate "In Yer Face" theatre style by Caitlin Baker, complete with Brechtian title-cards and hard-rock electric guitar stings between scenes. Baker also co-designed the impressive toy-house set with Kayla Circeran and co-designed the sound, bringing a raw-edged play to the usually-polished Q stage. There's impressive fight choreography too from Lachlan Ruffy at the point when liberal platitudes fail the cast and something rawer is required.

This is a piece that is edgy and prickly in several ways, and it's not an easy one to take. But if you want theatre that slaps you in the face a bit, this will certainly do that.   

Travelling North, Canberra Rep, 11-27 Jun

 David Williamson's "Travelling North" was the last of his run of plays of the 1970s - a decade that began with the one-two punch of "The Removalists" and "Don's Party" in 1971 and which had shown him go on to be an essential part of the Australian playwriting firmament, as well as developing a reputation as a screenwriter. It's based on the story of the mother of his second wife, Kristen, who entered into a relationship with an ex-communist and moved to the central coast of NSW, away from her adult children. It's a tale of late-in-life love, an escape from winter into a lush rich world of abundance, and gives Williamson the chance to look at two characters near the end of their lives, looking back at their past and finding a path ahead together.

Leading the cast is Danielle Spiller as Frances, a woman discovering her inner adventurer and dealing with the frustrations when their journey north stops somewhere around Tweed Heads when her partner's health begins to delay him - she's an active participant in the relationship and a warm protagonist. Alongside her is Pat Gallagher as Frank, cantankerous, opinionated but realising as his time gets closer that his past has occasionally rubbed other people the wrong way. Matilda Millar-Carlton is a force of nature as Frances' uptight daughter Helen, taking affront at everything from her mother to her in-laws to her frayed relationship with her husband. As the academic daughter, Sophie, Margeux-Arundell Williams plays a character with her own academic snobbery but willing to fight back against her sister. Stephanie van Lishout as Frank's daughter Joan gives us an understanding of who Frank has previously been and what a past with him has been like. Steven Kennedy as the neighbour Freddy is a charming delight as someone who differs with Frank in many ways but displays all the good nature of neigbourliness. Adrian Breen as Frank's doctor Saul enjoys the challenges of a difficult, challenging patient with warmth and humour. Kumar Kartikey Gupta and Grace Cassidy make the most of small cameo roles in various roles of officialdom.

Cate Clelland directs and designs using a three-layered set to represent the three worlds of the play (Melbourne, Sydney and Tweed Heads), with a mural of tropical abundance at the back. Claire Middleton and Darcy Abrahams dress the cast in a mix of tropical comfort and melbourne late 60s/early 70s fashion, setting the period well. Nev Pye's sound design mixes classical style for the transition and tropical sounds for the scenes in elegant style. Craig Mueller's lighting design sets out spaces for the characters to work well.

This is Williamson in a slightly reflective mode, given a production that is perhaps a little classical-and-stately in manner, but which still hits with some great comedy and some heart-felt moments. It's a rare case of Williamson writing about a generation before his own, and understanding them well, both their struggles and their successes. And it's a fine production of a classic play. 

The Deep Blue Sea, Chaika Theatre, Act Hub, 12-27 June

 (Photography Tony Knight)

Terrence Rattigan was one of the writers who the "angry young men" of the late 1950s British theatre were reacting to - his plays used British reticence and stiff-upper-lip to show characters falling apart beneath the facade of good manners. "The Deep Blue Sea" concentrates on Hester, who we meet just after a failed suicide attempt - the play goes into why she has been driven to suicide and the start of her slow way out of that despair as she realises everything that's led her to this point has to be abandoned, most specifically her inadequate lover, Freddie Page. In this production, played in the taverse in the ACT hub, we are up-close-and-personal as we dive into Hester and those around her, and about how the start of a way forward might be found.

Jenna Roberts is, of course, a powerhouse actress and in this play she gets one hell of a leading lady role. She's adept at playing both the stylish front and the deep anguish behind the front, the yearning and the recognition that the yearning is unlikely to be fulfilled. As the lover-who-can't-quite-satisfy, Sol Mason is exactly as irritating as the role requires-  finding moments of casual cruelty and occasionally not-so-casual, as someone who realises his own failures but is incapable of being better so thinks doubling down will finally drive her away. Michael Sparks is the ex-husband who still wants the past back in its place, not quite realising how over everything is and that he can't just wish the past back - there's a melancholy yearning in his performance that breaks the heart. Elsewhere, Kate Blackhurst is a fine gossipy landlady who you understand why people trust her with their secrets even as she lets them back out again, Jack Shanahan impresses as a slightly opinionated busybody who never the less has compassion that never quite stretches far enough to be useful, Meaghan Stewart is his wife experiencing her own type of isolation, Karen Vickery is the ex-doctor who cannot help but try to heal anyway despite her experiences, and Blue Hyslop is Freddie's friend who finds exactly where his own limitations of that friendship is.

Ylaria Rogers dresses the cast in fine period style, with Michael Sparks setting out a design that finds the right set of spaces for these confrontations to happen. Disa Swiftie lights smoothly and Yanina Clifton has found the right selection of period props to bring us into the period. 

This doesn't always completely avoid the slight tinge of melodrama in Rattigan's play (in particular the declaration "we're death to each other" feels way bigger than the rest of the play) but it's a fine production of a personal, emotive play that will have the audience feeling along with the characters.